The Invention of Books in the Ancient World
Audiobook
English language
Published Oct. 18, 2022 by Books on Tape.
Long before books were mass-produced, scrolls hand copied on reeds pulled from the Nile were the treasures of the ancient world. Emperors and Pharaohs were so determined to possess them that they dispatched emissaries to the edges of earth to bring them back. When Mark Antony wanted to impress Cleopatra, he knew that gold and priceless jewels would mean nothing to her. So, what did her give her? Books for her library—two hundred thousand, in fact. The long and eventful history of the written word shows that books have always been and will always be a precious—and precarious—vehicle for civilization.
Papyrus is the story of the book’s journey from oral tradition to scrolls to codices, and how that transition laid the very foundation of Western culture. Award-winning author Irene Vallejo evokes the great mosaic of literature in the ancient world from Greece’s itinerant bards to Rome’s multimillionaire philosophers, from opportunistic …
Long before books were mass-produced, scrolls hand copied on reeds pulled from the Nile were the treasures of the ancient world. Emperors and Pharaohs were so determined to possess them that they dispatched emissaries to the edges of earth to bring them back. When Mark Antony wanted to impress Cleopatra, he knew that gold and priceless jewels would mean nothing to her. So, what did her give her? Books for her library—two hundred thousand, in fact. The long and eventful history of the written word shows that books have always been and will always be a precious—and precarious—vehicle for civilization.
Papyrus is the story of the book’s journey from oral tradition to scrolls to codices, and how that transition laid the very foundation of Western culture. Award-winning author Irene Vallejo evokes the great mosaic of literature in the ancient world from Greece’s itinerant bards to Rome’s multimillionaire philosophers, from opportunistic forgers to cruel teachers, erudite librarians to defiant women, all the while illuminating how ancient ideas about education, censorship, authority, and identity still resonate today. Crucially, Vallejo also draws connections to our own time, from the library in war-torn Sarajevo to Oxford’s underground labyrinth, underscoring how words have persisted as our most valuable creations.
Through nimble interpretations of the classics, playful and moving anecdotes about her own encounters with the written word, and fascinating stories from history, Vallejo weaves a marvelous tapestry of Western culture’s foundations and identifies the humanist values that helped make us who we are today. At its heart a spirited love letter to language itself, Papyrus takes readers on a journey across the centuries to discover how a simple reed grown along the banks of the Nile would give birth to a rich and cherished culture.
Ik weet niet waarom, maar het kostte me grote moeite om hier doorheen te komen. En toch is het een interessant en mooi geschreven boek over de geschiedenis van het boek in de klassieke wereld. De nodige zijsprongetje, hier een dat wat herhaling, maar wel een fijne meanderende stroom.
This was a meandering, scholarly take on the development of books and reading through Greek and Roman times. Interspersed with this were little personal tales from the author herself. If you are interested in this subject or are just an avid reader then I would say this book is pretty close to mandatory. We all think we know this story but the scope of the tale clearly needed some serious research done because there were many things in this book that made me go 'Huh, obviously, how did I miss that?'. Always a good sign for a scholarly work. That being said you will note it's only 4 stars up there on the top line for a work I am describing as 'mandatory'. It's a long book, not necessarily a bad thing and as I just said it had to cover a wide scope. The length, though, was partly down …
This was a meandering, scholarly take on the development of books and reading through Greek and Roman times. Interspersed with this were little personal tales from the author herself. If you are interested in this subject or are just an avid reader then I would say this book is pretty close to mandatory. We all think we know this story but the scope of the tale clearly needed some serious research done because there were many things in this book that made me go 'Huh, obviously, how did I miss that?'. Always a good sign for a scholarly work. That being said you will note it's only 4 stars up there on the top line for a work I am describing as 'mandatory'. It's a long book, not necessarily a bad thing and as I just said it had to cover a wide scope. The length, though, was partly down to a high degree of repetition of certain facts or statistics. I found myself thinking a couple of times 'Cmon, Irene, you just said that 40 pages or so ago'. Some things are repeated at least 5 times and because they are notable or surprising facts or statistics, you notice. This is a minor quibble in some ways, as a scholarly work will have a degree of repetition to reinforce the learnings. I felt it was enough to just take the fifth star away, I am afraid. I still highly recommend this book though, my quibble might very well not be yours.
Author Irene Vallejo takes us on an amazing journey tracing the beginnings of writing and of books and along the way dives into the rich trove of writers, philosophers and ‘influencers’ of the ancient world. To read Papyrus is to uncover the birth and adolescence of humankind’s intellectual awakening. Brilliantly written and brilliantly translated. A masterpiece!
